My personal thoughts on Donald Trump’s controversial Muslim travel ban have been diluted as I have been force-fed headlines and opinions announced across media outlets. I still hadn’t come to terms with the fact that the ban had come into fruition, let alone formed any personal judgement on it. I felt a whirlwind of emotions. […]

As a child, I remember sitting on the floor at a family party as an uncle walked in and turned on the stereo. Traditional Iranian music blasted out and a belly dancer sashayed into the room. Decked in red, her dark hair fell to her hips. She shimmied this way and that, twirling a scarf, […]

There is a common theme that exists throughout most Western popular culture and media productions that surround us on a daily basis: the sexualisation of women. Chart-topping songs, high-grossing films, award-winning television series, and many more aspects of popular culture lean into this proclivity to depict women as only good for one thing. Sexualisation damages […]

2016 was quite a year. Apart from robbing us of many of our childhood heroes (I miss you, Major Tom), it dealt us a few political blows, from the shock of Brexit to the bigger shock of the American election. It was also a year that tried to put the brakes on women’s progress in […]

Among the other junk that happened in November 2016, legislation was considered by parliament that would regulate the world of online porn. And by regulate I mean ban a number of selected “non-conventional” sexual acts. I get it: let’s all cough loudly, look the other way and pretend this has nothing to do with us. […]

2016 has been a bit mad. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be some sentimental look back on the (almost) gone year; on what has and what could’ve been. As we look onward to 2017 however it’s hard not to reflect on what a ride 2016 has been. I mean, this will most likely be […]

There was a time in my life when all I thought or cared about was art. Having idolised the confident, ephemeral gestures of the abstract expressionists at uni, I savoured every ounce of intellectual fodder the world of high modern art allowed. I chewed on concepts as if they were an endless stream of sugarfree […]

Acne, soreness, and mood swings. These are some of the side effects of the recently trialled contraceptive for men. They are also some of the side effects experienced by women who use birth control. Only the latter is publicly available. The trial comprised 320 men in ten different locations worldwide who received injections to reduce […]

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a magic circle law firm called Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. In September this year the firm decided to bar its lawyers from starting emails and documents with “Dear Sirs”, instead introducing the more inclusive “Dear Sir or Madam”. And Lo, all the women rose […]

It’s mid-morning on a Friday, and we’re in a registry office in Douglas – the capital of the Isle of Man. Two witnesses are present for the civil partnership ceremony of an opposite-sex couple, Adeline Cosson and Kieran Hodgson. They are the first heterosexual couple to get a civil partnership in the British Isles after […]